Bruins 3, Lightning 2

March 02, 2013|Reuters

The Sports Xchange

By Mike Shalin, The Sports Xchange

Bruins 3, Lightning 2

BOSTON -- Brad Marchand's dream season continues.

The feisty left wing, who leads the Bruins in goals, scored a power-play goal with 2:16 remaining Saturday, giving Boston its sixth straight victory, a come-from-behind 3-2 decision over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Lightning, which took a 2-0 lead early and couldn't score again against backup goalie Anton Khudobin. He improved to 3-1-1 while Boston, off to its best start since 1929-30, improved to 14-2-2 (6-1-1 at home).

Tampa's Brendan Mikkelson received a double minor for high-sticking Milan Lucic with 5:39 left, and the Bruins didn't put any pressure on Mathieu Garon until they scored.

Steven Stamkos, whose 15th goal of the season led the Lightning (9-11-1) to the two-goal lead, came down the right side and blasted one that went wide of the net and came all the way around the boards. Patrice Bergeron led Marchand on a 2-on-1 and fed Marchand for his 11th goal of the season, his fourth game-winner.

It was the Bruins' second power-play goal of the game, their first two of the season on home ice.

Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley scored 1:17 apart in the second period, after Stamkos and Alexander Killorn scored power-play goals for Tampa in the first.

Despite allowing the two power-play goals, the Bruins did kill six penalties, including a double minor to Andrew Ference in the second period.

The Bruins allowed their first power-play goal at home in the third period Thursday night but were hit with a pair in a 3:06 span of the first period Saturday.

Stamkos, stationed at a bad angle, blasted one through Khudobin at 5:32 before Killorn took a nifty pass from Teddy Purcell and made it 2-0 -- two goals on the first four shots. Martin St. Louis had his 21st assist of the season to key the rush, and Killorn wound up alone on the goalie.

Boston struck quickly in the second period -- both goals scored from the same sharp angle Stamkos scored from.

Seguin scored his first goal in five games, at 3:22, and Peverley then took a pass from Adam McQuaid and scored from the same spot, at 4:39.

NOTES: Pierre-Cedric Labrie of Tampa Bay and Adam McQuaid of Boston engaged in a spirited first-period fight, while Gregory Campbell of the Bruins and B.J. Crombeen went at it in the second. The fights were the first in eight games for Boston, all after Bruins tough guy Shawn Thornton was a healthy scratch. ... Tampa scratched defenseman Sami Salo and winger Adam Hall. ... Veteran Jay Pandolfo replaced Thornton and played the fourth line, while coach Claude Julien shifted Daniel Paille up to the third unit and dropped Chris Bourque to the fourth. ... Former Bruin Benoit Pouliot left the game because of an upper-body injury after a first-period boarding penalty against Dennis Seidenberg. ... Despite scoring only five goals in the three-game losing streak they brought into Saturday's game, the Lightning was still leading the league in goals scored. ... The Bruins end their three-game (in four days) homestand against the Canadiens Sunday night, while Tampa Bay played the second game of a four-game trip and moves on to Pittsburgh on Monday night. ... The Bruins capped their annual "PJ Drive" to benefit underprivileged kids. Last year, 15,000 pairs of pajamas were donated at various sites. ... This was supposed to be the second TD Garden game between the teams but Tampa's first visit was postponed (with the Lightning already in Boston) because of a blizzard, and re-scheduled for April 25.